Method of making friction-disks



ffy-f April 20, 1954 G. wALTERs ET AL `2676,125

METHOD 0F MAKING FRICTIoN-'DISKS Filed Deo. 23, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet l mvv m fr O Q C April 20, 1954 G. wALTERs Erm. 2,676,125

METHOD OF MAKING FRICTION-DISKS Filed Dec. 23, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 G. WALTERS TAL METHOD 0F MAKING FRICTION-DISKS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 vApril 2o, 1954 filed Dec. 23, 1950 Patented Apr. 20, 1954 UNITED STAT OFFICE Morton, Branford, Conn., Russell Manufacturing Company,

assignors to The Middletown,

Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application December 23, 1950, Serial No. 202,460

9 Claims. (Cl. 154-81) This invention relates to improvements in methods of making friction-disks, and more particularly to making friction-disks for use in connection with clutches.

One object of this invention is to provide an improved method of more eiiiciently making the herein-described friction-disk.

Other objects and advantages will appear to those skilled in the art from the following, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the description and claims, the various parts and steps are identiiied by specific terms for convenience, but they are intended to be as generic in their application as the prior art will permit.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of the present disclosure, in which certain ways of carrying out the invention are shown for illustrative purposes:

Fig. 1 is a face View of a. clutch friction-disk made in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a face view of a portion of a woven web used in making a clutch friction-disk in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view on line ii-i of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a face View of a modified form of web made by braiding instead of by Weaving;

Fig. 6 is a View similar to Fig. 3 of the woven web of Fig. S after it has been impregnated with plastic friction material;

Fig. 7 is a face View of a plastic member of friction material which is to be combined with the impregnated web of Fig. 6 to produce a frictiondisk in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view on line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a top plan view illustrating a mode of combining the impregnated Web-member of Fig. 6 with the plastic member shown in Fig. 7 to form a composite member;

Fig. 10 is a front elevation of Fig. 9;

Fig. l1 is an enlarged sectional view on line H--il of Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is a sectional View similar to Fig. 11 of a modified construction;

Fig. 13 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 1l of another modified construction;

Fig. 14 is a face view of a biscuit formed by winding a length of the composite member oi Figs. 9, 1o and 11 into coiled or spiral form prior 'to subjecting the biscuit to heat and pressure;

Fig. 15 is a broken centralvertical sectional View through a pair ci heated dies and a biscuit, just prior to the dies beingy forced together;

Fig. 16 is a view similar to Fig. 15 after the dies have been forced together, the dies being heated to convert the biscuit into a compressed heat-hardened unitary friction-disk blank;

Fig. 17 is a schematic side elevation partly in section, illustrating a method of forming the come posite member illustrated in Figs. 9, 10 and 11; Fig. 18 is a top plan View of a portion of Eig. i7;

Fig. 19 is a top plan view of the right endportion of the construction shown in Fig. 17;

Fig. 20 is a sectional View on line 234-20 of Fig. 17;

Fig. 21 is a sectional view on line 2 l-2I of Fig. 17;

Fig. 22 is a sectional view on line 22,-22 of Fig. 17; and

Fig. 23 is a sectional view on linev 23T-2 3, of Fig.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4, 6 to l1 and 1,4 to 23, showing the particular form of the invention chosen for illustration therein, the friction-disk or -facing 3o is made by rst weaving a loose, open, readily impregnated web or web-member 3| of warp strands 32 and a weft strand or weft picks 33, then passing the woven web 3l into a tank, not shown, containing heat-hardenable, plastic, bonding friction material 3s to form the impreg nated or treated web 35 shown in Fig. 6. No particular bonding friction material is any part of the present invention, and any suitable bonding friction material may be used, such, for example, as bonding friction material containing a phenol-. formaldehyde type of resin, as is well 1anown to those skilled in the art. The bonding material initially is in the form of a heavy liquid solution which impregnates and clings to the web, which then is dried.

Also, a heat-hardenable bonding friction ma. terial plastic member 35 is molded in any suitable way, of the desired ingredients, as for example by extruding it through a die.

A suitable length of the plastic member 36 is then combined with a suitable corresponding length of the impregnated or treated web :5 5 in any desired way, as Vfor example by successively folding portions of the web 35 about the plastiC memberV 3S by hand or otherwise, to produce a composite member 37 which, throughout its length, is as illustrated at the right-hand ends portions of Figs. 9 and 1i) and in the cross-sectionel view of Fig. il. Although the impregnated web-member 35 has beendred beOIC `.it is combined with the plastic member te to form the composite member 3l, nevertheless the dried impregnated web 35 is pressure-adhesive while cold, so that in addition to the strands of the web-member 35 being readily pressable into the surface of the plastic member 3S, as will appear from Fig. 11, the two side edge-portions 3B and 38 are readily pressable by hand or otherwise into adhesive engagement with one another, as along the location de, to thus aid in maintaining the members 35 and il@ in assembled relation during distortion of the same in performing the next step or operation, which consists in winding the composite member 31 to form what is known as a biscuit Il! illustrated in Fig. 14, which has the ends of the member 37 held by means of a piece of paper adhesive tape l2 or other suitable means.

The biscuit il is then placed between the complemental upper and lower die-members 43 and lid, preferably with the edge-portions 3B and 39 of the coiled portions i5 of the biscuit di all extending upwardly, as illustrated in Fig. 15, to be located in the rear face-portion firof the rough-pressed friction-disk or blank Lil shown in Fig. 16 after the heated die-members i3 and lli have been forced together and held together suiciently long to cause the plastic material of the web-member 35 and the plastic member 3S to become heated and ow between and through the strands of the web-member 35 and become substantially uniformly distributed through the rough-pressed friction-disk di. After a suitable length of time, the die-members i3 and are separated and the hardened rough-pressed disk il is removed and has its annular nash i8 sheared away, and the rough-pressed disk il ground on the front and rear surfaces 4s and 59, respectively, to produce the nished frictiondisk 3H (Figs. 1 and 2).

Instead of forming the composite member 3? by hand, it can be formed by means of the mechanism illustrated in Figs. 17 to 23 inclusive. Referring to Fig. 17, a reel containing a reeledup length of impregnated web has its trunnions 52 removably mounted for rotation in supporting-arms 53.

An extrusion mechanism 5d includes a cylindrical pressing-chamber 55 provided with a throat-entrance 5S, through which chunks of plastic material 5l are received from a hopper 58. rihe pressing-chamber 55 has an extrusionscrew 53 tting therein, which screw, by rotating, forces the plastic material out through the extrusion-hole et in the extrusion-die Si.

The impregnated web 35 is drawn up over the guide-pulley St and passes into the flared throat 63 merging into the generally cylindrical passage through a forming-guide et, which curls the impregnated web up into a generally hollow form around the extruded cylindrical plastic member 35 which cornes through the die-opening til and through the generally cylindrical guidepassage of a `guide 55, and on into the hollowshaped portion of the impregnated web 35 which is being folded around it and pressed into it, more or less, and then passes between a pair of feeding and pressing-rollers 55 and 6l, respectively, mounted on shafts 68 and te which are driven at equal speeds by the shaft Eis and spur gears lli and li. lThe shaft t9 may be driven by adjustable mechanism in a way well 1understood by those skilled in the art, to permit of driving the feed-rolls 5S and 6l at any desired speed to feed the extruded plastic member t at the same speed that it is extruded through the die 5l. As the plastic member 36 andweb-member S5 pass through the forming-guide B, a holdinglinger 64a at the front portion of guide 64 extends down between the edge-portions 38 and 3S of the web-member, and holds the plastic member 36 down below the edges of the edge-portions 3? and 39. And as the plastic and web-members pass out of the rear end of guide tl, the smooth under face of a rear extension 56h thereof holds the top edges of the web 35 at equal heights, and the smooth blunt-pointed rear portion ilc of member 64b holds open, or spreads open if necessary, the edge-portions of the web-member 35, and holds the plastic member 3E down in proper position, so that the edge-portions 3s and Se of the web-member 35 stand up and apart preparatory to their being engaged by the pressingrollers 65 and 67. Each of the rollers @t and t? has a generally semicircular annular groove l2, which grooves, as shown in Fig. 23, give a generally cylindrical form to the composite member 3l, while the cylindrical surfaces i3 on the rollers t5 and el press the two edge-portions 3S and 3i? together to adhere them together along. the location (Figs. 23 and 11).

1n order to cut the composite member off into suitable predetermined lengths while it continues to travel and be formed vfrom the previouslyformed and dried web 35, and the extruded 'plastic member te as the latter is being made by the extrusion-die, suitable mechanism is provided, as will now be described.

A horizontal shaft l-i is rotatably mounted in bearing-supports l5 and it, and has firmly secured to it by set-screws or otherwise, two troughsections 'il and 78. And in order 'to properly support the trough-section i8, the shaft 'id has a rearward shaft-extension portion i9 beyond the bearing-support is. Both trough-sections are the same in cross section, and each trough-section il, 78 has four troughs 86, 8i, c2 and 33 with four corresponding separating-partitions 8d, 85, et and 87. l Each of the partitions of the troughsections i8 has its end-portion adjacent the bearing-support 76 cut back from its outer edge to a location 88 sufficient to clear the four ratchetpins 8s, 90, 9| and S2 which extend through an end-plate 93 on the end of the trough-section 'i3 and into the partitions, for a purpose to be later described.

The bearing-supports i5 and 'It respectively have extensions 9s and 95 in which are rigidly secured a switch-support rod 96. A micro-switch ii is slidable along the support-rod et and securable in any desired adjusted position by collars Q3 and set-screws 99 or otherwise. A switchsupport arm la@ is pivoted to swing on the switchsupport rod 95 in a plane at right angles to the support-rod 96 and carries a switch-actuating `arm iti adapted to close the micro-switch el to close the electrical circuit leading from a power supply |33 when the end of the composite member 3l pushes the actuating-arm iii i.

A cutter istl is rotatably mounted at it on a support It and has four cutting-blades icl, ills, ills and iii?. The cutter lcd also has four ratchet-pins Hl, H2, H3 and lili. A solenoidcoil i i5, when electric current ows through it, draws the solenoid-armature i it down into the coil H5 and pulls the pawl-arm iii, which` is pivoted at i I8 on the solenoid-armature, to thus cause the pawl-head H9 to pull down on the ratchet-pin i l i, to thereby cause the cutter-blade it? to sever the composite member 3l which is constantly traveling through the opening i2@ in the support-plate I. This downward swinging movement of the ratchet-pin ill continues until it occupies the position shown by the ratchetpin |12 in Fig. 22. Spring-pressed buffer-pins |2| engage the upper face of the frame '|22 to minimize the shock at the end -of the downward movement .of the pawl-arm I|.I. The `downward movement of the `pawl-arm H'i takes place against the counter-action of the spring |23, which pulls the pawl-arm back up to its voriginal position shown in Fig. 22 as soon as the electric current through the solenoid-coil ||5 ceases. A leaf-spring lock |24 is secured to the support lil so that it prevents reverse movement of the cutter |94 by engaging the rear of each cutterblade after such cutter-blade has been forced past it by the pawl action previously described. The solenoid-armature |6 carries a switch-closing arm 125 which closes the switch |26 when the armature H8 is pulled to its lowered position by the solenoid-coil i |5.

A second solenoid-coil |22? is adapted, when supplied with electric current, to pull its solenoid-armature |28 downward and carry along with it the pawl-arm IS which is pivoted to the armature at |S|i. The pawl-arm |2Q carries vspring-pressed buffer-pins v|3|, which engage against the frame l|22 to minimize the shock at the end of the down movement of the pawl-arm |29. When the pawl-arm |29 thus moves downward, its pawl-head |32 pulls the ratchet-pin 89 downwardly to the position occupied by pin 90 in Fig. 2l. Upon the electric current being shut off from the solenoid-coil |27, the coil spring |33 returns the pawl-arm |29 upward to its original position shown in Fig. 2l ready for the next downward movement. A leaf-spring lock m6 secured to the support i6 prevents reverse movement of the trough-sections Ti, 'is by engaging the rear of each trough-partition after such trough-partition has been forced past it by the pawl action previously described.

When the previously-referred-to engagement or" the end of the composite member 3l against the switch-actuating arm IN takes place, the latter will close the micro-switch Q7 to thus close the electric circuit therethrough, whereupon electric current flows through the wires |34 and |35 to the first-described solenoid-coil H5, to cause it to actuate the cutter m4 to sever a length of composite member 31, which is of predetermined length by the particular setting of the microswitch 9'! along the support-bar 9&5. When this cutting action takes place, the downward move- :ment of the armature Ht causes the closing of the switch |25 as previously described, to thus ciose the electric circuit through the wires |35 and |31" to cause the second solenoid-coil |21 to pull its armature |23 down, to thus cause the pand-head |32 to pull one of the four ratchet- 39, 99, 9| and 92 downwardly to cause the aligned trough-sections 'i1 and i8 to be rotated one-quarter of a turn, to thus dump the length of composite member 3l which has been cut, bring the next-following trough into the position which was previously occupied by the trough which has been just described as having been dumped.

When the trough-sections are rotated cneciuarter turn as just described, this causes the switch-support arm It@ to be swung about its pivot un l the trough-partition which engages tho switch-supporting arm lili! pushes past it, whereupon the weight of the switch-arm swings the .latter down toits original position with the switch-actuating arm Mii in position to fclose the micro-switch when the constantly-traveling nextsection of the composite member '31 pushes against the switch-'actuating arm itl, whereupon the cutting `and dumping action previously described is again repeated, and `so on as long as the composite .member continues to lbe fed along a trough to the location of the microswitch. To insure that lthe switch-supporting arm |06 returns to its operating position after a one-quarter rotation of the trough-sections, a leaf-spring H12 or other resilient means may be provided.

Instead of employing a 'web in which the strands are interlaced by weaving as heretofore described, a web having otherwise interlaced strands as, for example, the lbraided web |33 shown in Fig. 5, may be made by braiding the strands |39. Before use, the braided web ld would be impregnated with plastic friction material, the same as in the case of the woven web 3| of Fig. 3. The strands employed rpreferably are the usual asbestos strands provided with a core strand or strands of brass, zinc or other suitable metal.

Instead of making the composite member `3l as illustrated in Figs. 9 to 11, a composite member Ill as illustrated in Fig. 'l2 could be employed, in which the plastic member |1|| is originally of an approximate rectangular shape instead of the cylindrical shape of Fig. '11. Or, a composite member |42 as illustrated in Fig. 13 could be employed, in which the plastic member |43 could be cylindrical as in the case of the plastic member of Fig. 11, but having the impregnated web-member less wide as compared with the size of the plastic member, so as to avoid any abutting or cementing of the edges of the web-member. In other words, the size of the cylindrical plastic member |43 would be relatively larger than in the case o'f the cylindrical plastic member 36 of Fig` 1l, so that the webmember 34 would not reach all the way around, but so the edges |44 and |45 would be spaced apart somewhat, vas shown in Fig. 13.

While it is advantageous to manufacture the composite member by a continuous process as hereinbefore set forth, `it will be appreciated that composite members for making friction-disks in accordance with this invention can be made by hand, and even without making the plastic coremember by extruding it. Thus, the core-member which does not have to be perfectly vround or of any particular contour for use in this process, can be made by shaping s. plastic mass up into shape by a persons hands. And then the previously-woven or braided web-member can be placed about the core-member and pressed thereinto by hand, also. And the thus handmade composite member can be made 'in any predetermined length desired, or can be made in a long length and out by hand-operated means or otherwise into 'the desired length, which can be coiled up into biscuits, in the 'manner hereinbefore described, and pressed to form frictiondisks.

By forming a friction-disk or -facing of one or more composite members, each of which is formed from one or more plastic members and one or more impregnated web-members, the plastic members being formed separately or inde-- pendently of the web-members, a number of important .advantages are obtained. Thus, great economy of manufacture results. Also, a higher percentage of plastic material can be embodied in and substantially uniformly distributed through, a friction-disk, than where only one or more impregnated web-members are employed, since only a much smaller percentage of plastic material can be made to adhere to the web by the impregnating treatment. Also, coarse heavy particles such, for example, as brass chips, and also other desirable heavy friction-modifying agents such as particles of lead and other metals and barytes, and so forth, can be easily embodied in a plastic member, although they cannot be easily maintained uniformly mixed in a liquid, even in a thick liquid such as is employed for impregnating web-members. When heat and pressure is applied to the composite members forming the rough disk, the material of the plastic members is forced to flow between the strands and through the openings or interstices of the open Web-members, so that the final result is a satisfactorily uniform friction-disk construction.

The invention may be carried out in other specific Ways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and

all changes coming Within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

We claim:

l. The method of making a friction-disk having a friction-face portion, comprising: providing a separately-made elongated heat and pressure moldable and hardenable bcnding-friction-material plastic member; making separately, an elongated web member mainly formed of strands, and impregnating said separately-made web member With heat-hardenable bonding friction material; bringing said plastic member and said separately-made and impregnated web member into close relation with one another along their lengths to form an elongated composite member; coiling said composite member With its coilportions in side-by-side relation; and subjecting said coiled composite member to heat and pressure to form a unitary disk.

2. The method of making a friction-disk having a friction-face portion, comprising: providing a separately-made elongated heat and pressure moldable and hardenable bonding-friction-material plastic member; making separately, an elongated web member mainly formed of interlaced strands, and impregnating said separatelymade Web member with heat-hardenable bonding friction material; bringing said plastic member and saidseparately-made and impregnated Web member into close relation with one another along their lengths to form an elongated cornposite member; coiling said composite member With its coil-portions in side-by-side relation;

land subjecting said coiled composite member to heat and pressure to form a unitary disk.

3. The method of making a friction-disk having a friction-face portion, comprising; providing a separately-made elongated heat and pressure moldable and hardenable bonding-friction-material plastic member; making separately, an elongated Web member mainly formed of interlaced strands, and impregnating said separatelymade web member With heat-hardenable bonding friction material; folding said impregnated web member about and into close relation with said plastic member along their lengths tofform an elongated composite member; coiling said composite member to heat and pressure to form a unitary disk.

4. The method of making a friction-disk having a friction-face portion, comprising: providing a separately-made elongated heat and pressure moldable and hardenable bonding-frictionmaterial plastic member; making separately, an elongated open web member mainly formed of interlaced strands, and impregnating said separately-made Web member with heat-hardenable bonding friction material; folding said impregnated web member about and into close relation with said plastic member along their lengths to form an elongated composite member; coiling said composite member with its coil-portions in sideby-side relation; and subjecting said coiled composite member to heat and pressure to form a unitary disk.

5. The method of making a friction-disk having a friction-face portion, comprising: providing a separately-made elongated heat and pressure moldable and hardenable bonding-friction-material plastic member; making separately, an elongated web member mainly formed of interlaced strands and having side-edge portions, and impregnating said separately-made web member with heat-hardenable bonding friction material; folding said impregnated web member about and into close relation with said plastic member with said side-edge portions pressed together along their lengths to form an elongated composite member; coiling said composite member with its coil-portions in side-by-side relation; and subjecting said coiled composite member to heat and pressure to form a unitary disk.

6. The method of making friction-disks each having a friction-face portion, comprising: providing a separately-made elongated heat and pressure moldable and hardenable bonding-friction-material plastic member; making separately, an elongated web member mainly formed of strands, and impregnating said separately-made web member With heat-hardenable bonding frietion material; causing said plastic member and said separately-made and impregnated web memb-er to move longitudinally and into close relation with one another to form a traveling composite member; cutting on" lengths of said composite member; coiling each cut-ofi length of composite member with its coil-portions in said side-by-side relation; and subjecting each coiled composite member to heat and pressure to form a unitary disk.

7. The method of making friction-disks each having a friction-face portion, comprising: providing a separately-made elongated heat and pressure moldable and hardenable bonding-friction-material plastic member; making separately, an elongated web member mainly formed of strands, and impregnating said separately-made web member with heat-hardenable bonding friction material; causing said plastic member and said separately-made and impregnated Web member to move longitudinally and folding said impregnated web member about and into close relation with said plastic member to form a traveling composite member; cutting oif lengths of said composite member; coiling each cut-off length of composite member With its coil-portions in side-by-side relation; and subjecting each coiled composite member to heat and pressure to form a unitary disk.

8. Themethod of making friction-disks each having a friction-face portion, comprising: eX- truding a separately-made elongated heat and pressure moldable and hardenable bonding-friction-material plastic member; making separately, an elongated web member mainly formed of strands, and impregnating said separately-made web member with heat-hardenable bonding friction material; causing said plastic member and said separately-made and impregnated web member to move longitudinally and into close relation with one another to form a traveling composite member; cutting oi lengths of said composite member; coiling each cut-01T length of composite member with its coil-portions in sideby-side relation; and subjecting each coiled composite member to heat and pressure to form a unitary disk.

9. The method of making friction-disks each having a friction-face portion, comprising: extruding a separately-made elongated heat and pressure moldable and hardenable bonding-friction-material plastic member; making separately, an elongated web member mainly formed of interlaced strands, and impregnating said separately-made web member with heat-hardenable bonding friction material; causing said plastic member` and said separately-made and impregnated web member to move longitudinally and folding said impregnated web member about and into close relation with said plastic member to form a traveling composite member; cutting off lengths of said composite member; coiling each cut-ofi` length of composite member With its coilportions in side-by-side relation; and subjecting each coiled composite member to heat and pressure to form a unitary disk.

References Cited in the le 0f this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,844,461 Chase Feb. 9, 1932 1,875,645 Norton Sept. 6, 1932 2,025,039 Cannon Dec. 24, 1935 2,196,569 Stroehla et a1 Apr. 9, 1940 2,264,901 Gosling Dec. 2, 1941 2,553,698 Brahs May 22, 1951 2,587,945 Wirth Mar. 4, 1952 

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING A FRICTION-DISK HAVING A FRICTION-FACE PORTION, COMPRISING: PROVIDING A SEPARATELY-MADE ELONGATED HEAT AND PRESSURE MOLDABLE AND HARDENABLE BONDING-FRICTION-MATERIAL PLASTIC MEMBER; MAKING SEPARATELY, AN ELONGATED WEB MEMBER MAINLY FORMED OF STRANDS, AND IMPREGNATING AND SEPARATELY-MADE WEB MEMBER WITH HEAT-HARDENABLE BONDING FRICTION MATERIAL; BRINGING SAID PLASTIC MEMBER AND SAID SEPARATELY-MADE AND IMPREGNATED WEB MEMBER INTO CLOSE RELATION WITH ONE ANOTHER ALONG THEIR LENGTHS TO FORM AN ELONGATED COMPOSITE MEMBER; COILING SAID COMPOSITE MEMBER WITH ITS COILPORTIONS IN SIDE-BY-SIDE RELATION; AND SUBJECTING SAID COILED COMPOSITE MEMBER TO HEAT AND PRESSURE TO FORM A UNITARY DISK. 